Fredrick
W. H. Myers' Afterlife Communications

Frederick
W. H. Myers
(1843-1901), a brilliant scholar
and one of the founders of the
Society
for Psychical Research,
reportedly communicated to spiritualist
mediums all over the world shortly
after his death. Myers may have
decided that the best way to prove
that he still existed after death
was to send a series of messages
through different mediums. The
Myers
communications
assert that the afterlife is divided
into stages, each with its entry
phase, a period of development,
and a period of preparation for
the next higher stage. One receives
an impression that it is the aim
of the Creator to "take
into the firm," as junior partners,
as many as can qualify. There
are seven stages, which are levels
of consciousness, or realms of existence.
The following is a description of
these levels and comparisons of
Myers' descriptions of them with
known descriptions from more well-known
sources, such as Edgar
Cayce
and the majority opinion of
Spiritualists.
The section on the Myers correspondences
are reprinted by permission from
Victor
Zammit.

Stage one is, of course, the Earth realm.
As soon as the Earth experience has been
thoroughly comprehended - either through
reincarnation, or through the exchange of
experience with others on other realms -
the candidate may proceed to realms beyond
the reach of the Earth mind. After death
a person enters Stage two, the Intermediate
Realm.

According to Edgar Cayce, the Earth realm,
being the third realm from the sun, represents
three dimensional reality. This is the realm
of "testing" according to Cayce,
or "of the flesh." He mentioned
in his psychic readings that all souls come
to the Earth realm to test their spiritual
ideals to see if they are real. He stated
that only by becoming subject to the physical
influences of the flesh and the laws of
the Earth realm can a soul know for certain
if they really possess that spiritual ideal.
This is the purpose of the Earth realm.

Upon death, most
people go through a heavenly process before
entering into heaven. Evil people, instead
of experiencing the tunnel and bright light
upon death, are sent through what Sylvia
calls the "Left Door" and enter
into an abyss of empty, joyless, nothingness
for a brief period of time. After they have
reflected upon their actions, they are reincarnated
back to Earth. People who commit suicide
are sent to a place Sylvia calls the "Holding
Place." Here they must make a choice
to either proceed through the "Left
Door" or embrace God and move on to
the Light. People in the Holding Place shuffle
slowly around in despair in a gray fog with
their heads down until they make their decision.
According to Sylvia, this is purgatory.
It is interesting to note that many near-death
experiencers, including George Ritchie,
have seen this place.

After Stage two, a person enters a more
stable world called "the realm
of illusion", Stage three. This is
a dimension where things may be created
with the mind and shaped by the direct action
of the imagination. Though a person may
linger in this stage for generations, an
eventual decision must be made. The
individual either returns to Earth or progresses
to Stage four. Before leaving, however,
the more enterprising souls may have an
opportunity to experience one of the great
wonders of this realm of consciousness -
a tour through some section of "The
Great Memory." Just as on Earth, one
may go to a library and see newsreels of
important Earth events of history. So, in
Stage three, one may witness any event that
has occurred from the beginning of human
experience. Everything that has ever happened
has been recorded by the cosmic memory.

Spiritualists call this realm "the
second heaven." Most people who
die initially find themselves in the second
heaven or intermediate astral realms. Viewed
as a sort of resting point on the way from
Earth to the more rarified upper dimensions,
it is a thought-created universe that closely
resembles an idealized Earth. Its inhabitants
seem to live in physical bodies, wear clothes
and so forth - but of an etheric kind that
would be invisible on Earth. Most attempts
to communicate from heaven stem from here;
but because its inhabitants are as yet unfamiliar
with the afterlife, these communications
can be confusing or wrong.

This stage corresponds to the planetary
realm of Mercury, according to Cayce. Mercury
is the realm of the mind where souls go
to develop their mental abilities. Cayce
stated, "Mercury gives the abilities
of the entity to consider the problems as
a whole with the mental insight into the
operative elements of ennobling, of virtues,
of good, of beautiful, with the mysteries
of the universal forces, given understanding,
brings the development to the soul's forces."

Stage four, an indescribably lovely existence,
is called "the realm of color."
Here one must leave behind all rigid intellectual
structures and dogmas, be they scientific,
religious, or philosophical. An infinite
variety of new sounds, colors and feelings
are experienced here and souls find a much
wider freedom to function with more highly
energized intellect and spirit.

Since Myers had not progressed beyond the
fourth realm at the time of his communication,
his reports of the higher levels of consciousness
beyond this are less detailed and more speculative.
He seems to have picked up enough hearsay,
however, to outline with some confidence
the general nature of the further advance.

If, on the fourth realm, the soul becomes
free from the Earth pull, the soul is qualified
to experience cosmic ranges beyond Earth's
confines. One of these ranges is the next
realm, "the realm of flame."

The realm of color
corresponds to the Spiritualist's "third
heaven." The third heaven or higher
astral realm is also referred to as "Summerland",
as it is the closest thing to the Christian
concept of paradise.

The most inspired
and pure souls from Earth pass directly
here after death; most people, however,
must strive to reach it after a sojourn
in the realm below where they assess their
life on Earth and try to understand what
they did wrong. It is from the third heaven
that rebirth back on Earth supposedly occurs
- although the decision to go back and try
again is allegedly an individual one, and
some may opt to forsake material life altogether
and move into the higher spiritual realms.
Some of the most accurate and most inspirational
messages received via mediums are said to
originate here. This may also be the place
called "Marduk"
according to the messages received by some
researchers.

The fourth realm corresponds to the planetary
dimension of Venus, according to Cayce.
Venus is the afterlife realm where love
is dominate. Cayce says this of Venus: "In
Venus we find the lovely becoming the expressions
in activities in which there is the beauty
seen in love, in companionship, in association,
in music, in art, in all the things that
bespeak of the loveliness even of nature
and material things, rather than the expression
of same in the earthly form or manner."

In the fifth realm, the "realm of flame,"
one acquires a body of flame, enabling him
to tour the stellar universe without being
harmed by its temperatures and turbulence
and to return with a fuller experience of
these cosmic reaches.

This realm corresponds to the spiritualist's
"fourth heaven." In the fourth heaven, which
some refer to as the mental and causal realms,
most of the trappings of materialism have
gone. It is here that selfless individuals
work together to bring spiritual enlightenment
to the lower slopes of heaven and to Earth.
Supposedly all great inventions, religious
and moral progressions, spiritual leadership
and so on, come from here, inspired by beings
who were once on Earth but have had the
opportunity to increase their talents in
the afterlife.

A few rebirths to Earth do take place from
this higher realm. Great teachers are sent
back for special reasons. Spirit guides
who talk through mediums are often in this
realm as well, bringing their enhanced knowledge
to Earth.

This realm corresponds to the planetary
dimension of Jupiter, as revealed by
Edgar Cayce. Cayce calls this realm
the "realm of strength." Cayce
stated, "We find in Jupiter that Universal
Consciousness, that longing for the knowledge
of something outside of self - the universal
desire or the desire to be of help to many
irrespective of the cost to self."
Also, "In Jupiter we find abilities
in a helpful, universal way and manner.
Hence the entity is given to verboseness,
as well as abilities to depict situations,
to analyze people and places, things and
conditions. Thus may the entity be gifted
in writing, lecturing, and in group direction."

The sixth realm is called by Myers, the "realm
of light." Individuals on this
realm are matured spirits, having lived
through, with conscious comprehension, all
the aspects of the created universe. They
are capable of living now without form,
of existing as white light in the pure thought
of the Creator. They have joined the immortals,
thus fulfilling their final purpose of the
evolution of consciousness.

Spiritualists call this realm the "fifth
heaven." Reaching the fifth or
celestial heaven is difficult, because it
is devoid of a physical state and aspired
to by great religious figures, from Jesus
to Buddha. Even those in lower heavenly
regions view it as most of us still on Earth
imagine heaven - a distant, magical, unknown
place.

This realm seems to correspond to the planetary
dimension of Neptune, described by Cayce
to be the "realm of mysticism, mystery,
and spiritual insight."

The seventh stage, in which the soul enters
full partnership with God, is beyond Myers'
verbal reach. Myers knew that the levels
of consciousness in the upper ranges were
beyond the insight of the average Earth
dweller except for intuitive flashes. The
seventh stage, which Myers called "timelessness,"
is inhabited by souls with an advanced spiritual
nature that is so close to the ultimate
essence of creativity that no adequate vocabulary
has yet evolved to describe them, and hence
they are difficult to describe to Earth-level
beings.

This realm is referred to by spiritualists
as the "sixth heaven." The sixth
heaven is cosmic consciousness where the
unity of souls is perfected and a kind of
universal being exists. This may be close
to what we think of as God, but it is even
less understood by those on the lower astral
realms.

This realm also seems to correspond to the
planetary dimension of Uranus which was
described by
Edgar Cayce as the "realm of the
psyche." Cayce states, "In the
Uranian influence we find the interest in
the spiritual things." Also, "The
tendencies from Uranus towards the occult
and the mystic forces; as visions, hearing,
seeing and knowing without having the physical
contact with experiences in the mental body."
According to Cayce, all psychics have had
a sojourn within this planetary realm before
incarnating to the Earth realm.

This realm was probably beyond the reach
of Myers as well because it wasn't described
in his correspondences. To reach the seventh
heaven, one has to step not only beyond
material and physical reality but beyond
mental and individual reality as well. It
is simply not possible to define what this
ultimate level may be, but reaching it is
supposedly the goal of all individual souls.
Everything that we do, on Earth and in heaven,
is directed towards that final transformation
because there is evolution of the soul just
the same as there is evolution of the body,
or indeed of all life, back on Earth.

The final realm
was referred to by
Edgar Cayce as the afterlife dimension
containing the star system of Arcturus.
According to Cayce, once the soul becomes
free from the influences of our solar system,
the soul is free to sojourn to other solar
systems. Cayce calls the Arcturus solar
system to be "of the Developing."
Also, "Arcturus is that through which
individuals pass and at which period there
comes the choice of the individual as to
whether it is to return to complete there
- that is, in this planetary system, our
sun, or the Earth's sun and its planetary
system, or to pass on to others."
Cayce describes this as both a usual and
an unusual step in soul evolution.

"I know
a person in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the
third heaven. Whether
it was in the body or out of
the body I do not know - God
knows. And I know that this
person ... was caught up to
paradise." - Saint Paul,
2 Corinthians 12:2-4